DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers will honor former manager Jim Leyland later this season, but now the ball club is upping the celebration by retiring his number.
The Tigers announced Leyland's number 10 will be retired during an August 3 celebration. That celebration was already scheduled following Leyland's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The first 15,000 fans in attendance will receive a Jim Leyland starter kit, which includes a baseball cap, mustache and sunglasses. During a ceremony to honor Leyland the Tigers will officially put his name and number on the brick wall that flanks center field at Comerica Park.
One of the highest honors for one of the most successful managers in franchise history.
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) June 3, 2024
We will retire #️⃣🔟 on August 3 recognizing Jim Leyland's contributions to the club and the game of baseball. pic.twitter.com/eQ4vHhDLoD
Leyland's number 10 will be the tenth number retired by the Tigers and only the second to be worn by a manager. Sparky Anderson, who managed the team to its last World Series title in 1984, has his number 11 on the wall.
“Jim Leyland is a quintessential baseball man and embodies so much of what our fans in Detroit loved and appreciated about his time as our manager,” Chris Ilitch, Chairman & CEO of the Detroit Tigers, said in a statement. “Jim demonstrated a gritty passion in leading his team, a relentless pursuit of excellence, and an uncanny ability to connect with people, which Jim did with the Tigers and throughout his career. Given those intangibles, combined with his tenure as a winning manager who was instrumental in an era of success, I feel it’s only fitting that he now has his number retired and a permanent place on the Comerica Park wall. On behalf of the entire Tigers organization, I congratulate Jim and look forward to celebrating with him, his family, and Tigers fans on August 3.”
Leyland is the only manager in Tigers history to take the team to 4 postseasons. He is one of three managers to win 700 games in Detroit, going 700-597 over eight seasons from 2005 to 2012.
“I’d like to thank Chris Ilitch and the entire Tigers organization for deciding to retire No. 10 in my honor this summer,” Leyland said. “Having the opportunity to manage in Detroit was one of the great privileges of my career and I still look back fondly on the memories that we shared with Tigers fans. This is a humbling moment for me and an honor that I will cherish forever.”
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